I recently noticed that many of my magic tapes are getting ruined. Many of them are, including Dai Vernon Revelations. This is frustrating to me. What happens is that the image at the top of the screen becomes bended, in some it is minimal, but on others its big, Like one of Eugene Burger where almost half of the screem becomes scrambled. Any suggestions on how I can solve this problem, and if I can fix my tapes or are they permanently like that.

First, I assume that you've tried to play other videotapes, to see if the problem is in the tape player and not the TV? Also, have you tried playing the suspect tapes on another VHS machine, to confirm that the problem is in these tapes?

If the TV and the tapes are OK, try adjusting the tracking control on your VHS player, if you have a manual tracking adjustment (some players don't). If the player is operating properly, the playback heads may be dirty. Buy a head cleaning cassette at Best Buy, Circuit City or Radio Shack. Get the "wet" kind of video head cleaner that uses a liquid cleaning solution.

If the tapes themselves are bad, they may have been stored near a strong magnetic source (a large motor, perhaps?). If your playback heads were excessively dirty, they may have scratched and damaged the tape. Also, heat isn't good for videotapes. Tapes should be stored in a vertical position (to prevent damage to the sides of the tape), in a cool place, away from sunlight and magnetic fields. Short of possibly having someone recopy and remaster the tapes for you, I don't believe much can be done once the tape has been damaged.

On the plus side, you may be able to replace some of the videotapes with DVD's. These also need to be stored and handled with care, but should be more durable than videotape. Good luck, and let us know how it goes. SETH

I've found that tapes do go bad with age, even if stored properly. One TV special that I'd like to look at again, Harry Anderson's Tricks Of His Trade, went bad just from being stored. If this were available on DVD, I'd be in line to buy it.

It would be nice if video stores could sell copies of TV shows, obscure movies, limit production video, etc. on a on-demand basis. It would be great if some magic shops sold video clips, available for download, of legendary magicians. There has to be a market for this.

Tapes can also get worn out from watching them. If you've watched your videos a lot, that could be another explaination.

I have had tapes go bad by moisture in the air. Moisture can lead to mildew
on the tape surface. You can sometimes wipe them off using alcohol. If you try to play one with mildew it messes up your vcr.

This is sort of related. I have several older VHS tapes that are NOT available on DVD. I'd like to preserve them by copying to DVD (for personal use only) and don't see a copyright issue here. I think it falls under fair use. Am I wrong?

Regards,

This is why I have started making backups of my videos on DVD. Although the quality of a DVD will still deteriorate over time, it is not as vulnerable as a video. I bought an all-in-one unit at Costco that has a VHS player on one side and a DVD burner on the other. I just pop in the tape, go mow the lawn, and when I come back, it's done. Considering the number of videos I own, the cost of the burner wasn't that bad. I think I only paid about $200 for it.

Kent

Out of curiosity, how many hours of video can you normally fit onto one DVD? SETH

I usually just do a straight transfer of one video to one DVD. Depending on the software and compression that comes with the unit, you should be able to get about a 2 hour video onto one DVD without any problem.

Kent

OK, thanks for the information.

I just finished transferring some of my old vinyl 33-1/3 records to CD, and usually was able to fit at least two records onto one CD (80 minutes of recording time). I wondered what a DVD's video capacity was. SETH

I don't know much about this technology, but it seems that video takes up a lot more memory than audio. I understand that with some of the newer units, you can set different recording lengths for the DVD recording, much like when using the old VCR's (standard play, long play, extended play).

Kent

Greetings and Salutations,

Yes, you can copy a VHS to DVD -- for your own use. If you sell or give away the tape you are also bound to give the copy away with it. I asked this question once, here on the boards somewhere, and the answers and commentary went on for days and days. For me it was/is a matter of gaining more space, DVDs take up less room than VHS tapes. I've settled on storing the tapes in the basement. If they go bad, so be it, I have the DVD copies.

Depending on the DVD recorder and the DVDs themselves, you can record anywhere from an hour to eight hours per DVD. However, like VHS tapes, the more you pack into it the poorer the quality -- it's just not as drastic a degredation as with tape.

Hope this helps. I'm recording my tapes as fast as I can because some of my tapes have begun to degrade to the point of being unwatchable. Fortunately, some of those that went bad before I could record them are now available on DVD.

Joe in KC